Little in perfect position for first win at New Hampshire

LOUDON, NH - Third-place was the perfect position for Jesse Little on the white flag lap at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Saturday. The end result was him standing in victory lane with his first career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East win.<br /> <br /> The 17-year-old from Sherrills Ford, North Carolina, drove around the two wrecking leaders in turn 3 en route to winning the Granite State 100. The NASCAR Next driver and 2013 K&N Pro East Sunoco Rookie of the Year was making his 33rd K&N Pro start.<br /> <br /> Nick Drake led the field at the white flag lap, but when second-place Brandon Jones tried a bottom move in turn 3, he got into Drake and the two wrecked. That opened the door for Little.<br /> <br /> Drake wound up finishing 24th and Jones' car rolled across the line in 21st.<br /> Eddie MacDonald ended up taking the runner-up finish, followed by Cale Conley and rookies Jay Beasley and Chad Finley.<br /> <br /> Rookies Ronnie Bassett, Jr. and Austin Hill took sixth and seventh, respectively, followed by Gray Gaulding, and rookies Brodie Kostecki and Kaz Grala.<br /> <br /> Championship points leader Ben Rhodes, who entered the race with a shot to match the series record of five straight wins, came home 22nd. Rhodes won the 21 Means 21 and battled in the top five for most of the race before a late race procedure infraction on a restart resulted in a green-flag pass-through penalty took him out of contention.<br /> <br /> Rhodes still leads Gaulding by 62 points and Cameron Hayley by 65 after 10 of 16 races. Little is fourth in points, followed by Jones.<br /> <br /> The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East will race next in the JEGS 150 at Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway on Saturday, July 19.<br /> <br /> <strong>NASCAR K&N Pro Series East</strong><br /> <strong> New Hampshire Motor Speedway - Loudon, NH</strong><br /> <strong> Granite State 100 - July 12, 2014</strong><br /> <br /> Fin Str Car Driver Team Laps Points B/Points Status<br /> 1 2 97 Jesse Little Chad Little Outdoor Power Equip./NTI Chevrolet 100 47 4 Running<br /> 2 9 71 Eddie MacDonald Grimm Const./EXIT Realty/National MS Society 100 42 Running<br /> 3 30 47 Cale Conley Conley Motorsports Chevrolet 100 41 Running<br /> 4 20 42 Jay Beasley * Toyota Racing Development Toyota 100 40 Running<br /> 5 3 29 Chad Finley * Auto Value/Air Lift Ford 100 40 1 Running<br /> 6 26 4 Ronnie Bassett, Jr. * Butler Trailer Mfg./Roush-Yates Toyota 100 38 Running<br /> 7 13 22 Austin Hill * A&D Welding Ford 100 37 Running<br /> 8 5 20 Gray Gaulding Krispy Kreme Chevrolet 100 38 2 Running<br /> 9 19 43 Brodie Kostecki * Arcoplate Toyota 100 35 Running<br /> 10 28 31 Kaz Grala * NETTTS Chevrolet 100 34 Running<br /> 11 11 27 Kyle Benjamin * Benjamin Motorsports Ford 100 33 Running<br /> 12 14 52 Matt Tifft Federated Auto Parts Dodge 100 32 Running<br /> 13 22 14 Trey Hutchens * All-Star Truck Repair Chevrolet 100 31 Running<br /> 14 24 96 Kenzie Ruston Ben Kennedy Racing Chevrolet 100 30 Running<br /> 15 8 98 Cameron Hayley Cabinets by Hayley Chevrolet 100 29 Running<br /> 16 25 1 David Garbo, Jr. * Big Machine Records/Garbo Lobster Toyota 100 28 Running<br /> 17 27 77 Anderson Bowen * Cunningham Motorsports Dodge 100 27 Running<br /> 18 31 12 Giles Thornton Montana Raceway Park Ford 100 26 Running<br /> 19 16 81 Jeremy Burns * BBR Chevrolet 100 25 Running<br /> 20 29 63 John Salemi Envirotek USA Toyota 100 24 Running<br /> 21 7 33 Brandon Jones Wolfpack Energy Services Chevrolet 100 24 1 Running<br /> 22 1 41 Ben Rhodes * Alpha Energy Solutions Chevrolet 100 23 1 Running<br /> 23 23 5 Codie Rohrbaugh * Grant County Mulch Toyota 100 21 Running<br /> 24 10 15 Nick Drake * NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 99 21 1 Accident<br /> 25 6 34 Scott Heckert Project Lifesaver Chevrolet 99 19 Running<br /> 26 18 2 Ryan Gifford UTI/NASCAR Technical Institute Toyota 92 18 Accident<br /> 27 21 21 Mackena Bell Special Smiles Pediatric Dentistry Toyota 92 17 Accident<br /> 28 12 24 Brennan Newberry Qore24 Chevrolet 85 16 Accident<br /> 29 17 46 Brandon Gdovic American Messaging/Windstax Toyota 43 15 Accident<br /> 30 4 4 Sergio Pena Toyota Racing Development Toyota 30 14 Accident<br /> 31 15 6 Daniel Suarez Rev Racing Toyota 18 13 Accident<br /> <br /> RACE STATISTICS<br /> Fastest Qualifier: Ben Rhodes *, Time: 29.622 Seconds, Speed: 128.580 mph<br /> Time of Race: 1 hrs., 24 mins, 42 secs Average Speed: 74.947 mph Margin of Victory: .313 Seconds<br /> Caution Flags: Laps 19-22 (# 6 Turn 1 - FP #81); 30-33 (#2 Turn 3 - FP #81); 43-45 (#46 Turn 1 - FP #12); 51 (Halfway Break - FP #05); 79-83 (#20 Turn 2 - FP #63); 86-88 (#24 Turn 4 - FP #1); 93-94 (#2 & #21 Turn 2 - FP #63). 7 for 22 laps.<br /> Lap Leaders: Ben Rhodes * 1-2, Chad Finley * 3-9, Ben Rhodes * 10-25, Gray Gaulding 26-78, Brandon Jones 79-89, Nick Drake * 90-99, Jesse Little 100.<br /> Total Laps Led: Gray Gaulding 53, Ben Rhodes * 18, Brandon Jones 11, Nick Drake * 10, Chad Finley * 7, Jesse Little 1. 6 changes involving 6 drivers.<br /> <br /> * Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender

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